Vacuum cleaner with illuminating device



NOV. 20, 1951 W, 0, LANGlLLE 27,575,554

VACUUM CLEANER WITH ILLUMINATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 1l, 1948 Patented Nov. 20, 1951 VACUUM' CLEANER WITH ILLUMINATING Y Y. DEVICE "Wilfred Otto Langille, Chester,'N. J., assgnor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 11, 1948, Serial No. 64,843

1 Claim.

My invention relates to vacuum cleaners and more particularly to the ambulatory type of vacuum cleaners having an illuminating device located in a forward portion thereof.

Several prior art patents, including my Patent No. 2,217,174, issued October 8, 1940, and my Patent No. 2,241,862, issued May 13, 1941, indicate the use of electric lighting units to illuminate the floor in front of ambulatory t'ype vacuum cleaners. The present invention has as one of its primary objects to provide an improved means for mounting an electric lighting unit on a vacuum cleaner.

Another object of my invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive and at the same time highly efficient means for housing an illuminating device in a forward portion of a vacuum cleaner.

With the above and other objects in view, as

will hereinafter appear, my invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a, preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the vacuum cleaner shown in Fig. 1, partsbeing broken away to show internal details of the lighting unit.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the vacuum cleaner casing and lighting unit taken substantially on the broken line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an exploded, enlarged scale, sectional` View of the lighting unit taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the invention is disclosed as embodied in a vacuum cleaner'comprising an upper casing shell II and a lower casing shell I2, the lower shell I2 being held to the upper casing shell I I by a readily releasable mechanism, not shown. The upper shell II has a top wall Ilt and side walls Ils-IIS, each side wall I Is being joined to the top wall Ht by means of a curved wall portion IIc. The

readily releasable mechanism, referred to above,`

may take the form of a latch similar to that shown in a patent application of Edgar P. Turner, Serial No. 16,716, filed March 24, 1948, now Patent No. 2,532,432 issued December 5, 1950.

The lower casing shell I2 has a down-facing open mouth I3 through which a rotary brush I4 protrudes. The lower casing shell I2 carries a resilient bumper I6, and the casing shell has a pair of front wheels I'l--II rotatably supported therefrom. A combination motor and fan unit (not shown in detail) is carried by the two casing shells II and I2, and a propelling and pickup handle I8 is pivotally attached to the motorfan unit in a manner fully disclosed in a patent application of Edgar P. Turner, Serial No. 784,167, filed November 5, 1947. The motor-fan unit has a rearwardly extending exhaust duct I9 formed integral therewith. A pair of rear supporting wheels 2l (only one of which is Shown) are supported from the rear end of the exhaust duct I9.

The forward end of the upper casing shell Il is provided with an open transversely extending step 22 comprising a substantially horizontal shelf wall 23 and an upstanding rear wall 24. As best seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the rearwall 24 and the shelf wall 23 merge into one another by means of a curved Wall portion 26, all three of these elements being formed integraLwith the upper casing shell I I and, as best seenin Fig. 2, the step 22 extends the complete width of the upper shell II. In order to insure proper support of the shelf 23 lfrom the rest of the shell II, a pair of substantially triangularly shaped reinforcing members or ribs 21-21 are formed integral with and extend from wall 23 to wall 24 in a direction perpendicular to walls 23 and 24. Additionally, a support member 28, formed integral with the upper casing shell, extends parallel to the members 21-21. The support 28 is apertured by a U-shaped notch 3| that accommodates a screw 32 threaded axially into the end of a nonmetallic cylindrical housing 33 for an electric socket (not shown) which in turn accommodates an electric lamp bulb 34. Reference to the drawings shows that the common axis of the housing 33 and the bulb 34 extends horizontally and at the same time transversely of the direction in which the vacuum cleaner is normally propelled by the handle I8. Thus the lamp 34 is supported on the step 22 in such a manner as to be parallel to the step 22 and also transverse to the vacuum cleaner as a whole.

The rear wall 24 of the step 22 is provided with an opening 36 (Fig. 3) which accommodates a rearwardly extending terminal box portion 31' formed integral with the socket housing 33. A conduit 38, the walls of which are formed integral with the upper casing shell II, extends rearwardly from the opening 36 and thus provides a channel through which electrical conformed curved wall portion 44o. At each end of the cover 44, the walls 44:5'y and 44j merge Ywith the curved wall portion Molto forma rounded end portion 44e that is substantially in 'the form. of a spherical triangle. The front wall -44f.is lengthwise notched to provide a long window opening 46, Fig. 3, which extends centrallyacross v the front of the cover 44.

The complete external surface and all of the ends of thel Walls 44t, 44j, 44e, 44e, etc. are encased in a resilient, rubber-like member 41 which serves as a bumper for the front or nose of the vacuum cleaner` and which extends the complete width of the cleaner, the bumper being held to the cover 44 by means of inturned lips. Since the bumper 41 conforms to the cover 44, the bumper has a top wall 41t, a front wall41f, a curved wall portion 41e and rounded spherical triangular end portions .41e-41e, as Well as a window-notch 48. The dimensions of the cover-44 and the thickness of the bumper 41 are such that, when the cover .and all of its edges are completely encased in the resilient material of the bumper 41 and placed on the shelf 23, the outer surface oi the top wall 41t of the bumper is an extension of the outer surface of the wall llt of the shell Il. In like manner, the outer surface of the portions 41e-.41e are extensions of the outer surfaces of the walls llc and Ils of the upper casing shell Il. This results in a nose bumper 41 that is ilush with the outer surfaces of the walls Ht, Hcand Hs.

Internally of the cover 44, the said cover is provided with a pair of integrally formed depending cylindrical posts 49--49, the ends of which are provided with axially extending holes 5l-5l. The cover 44 is held in place on the step 22 of the upper casing shell by the screws 42-42 which pass upwardly through the holes 4l-4l in the shelf 23 and are screwed into the holes Epl-5l.

When the cover 44 and the bumper 41 are held in place by the screws 42, a lens52 is held in the notch or window opening 48 by reason of a pair of recesses 53-53, only one of which is shown, formed in the bumper 41 at opposite ends of the bumper notch 48, the lens 52 being provided with lugs 54-54 that t into the said recesses 53-53 In the event that the electric lamp bulb 34 needs replacement, it is only necessary for the owner of the vacuum cleaner to invert the cleaner and to remove the lower casing shell I2 in a manner which will be understood from a reading of Patent No. 2,532,432, supra. After the lower casing shell I2 has been removed, the screws 42-42 are unscrewed to unfasten the cover 44 and its bumper member 41. When this has been accomplished, the electric bulb 34 can be readily removed and thereafter replaced with a newbul'b.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim herein is:

' In a vacuum cleaner having an upper casing shell and a lower casing shell, the improvement which comprises: a step, including a shelf wall, a. rear wall and a curved wall formed integral with said upper casing shell, said rear wall being .provided with an opening and said upper casing shell being provided with a. conduit connected with said opening in said rear wall; a pair of reinforcing members formed integral with said yupper casing shell and arranged to support said shelf wall from said rear wall; an apertured support Vmember formed integral with said upper casing shell and extending from said shelf wall Vto said rearA wall; an 'electric socket-housing secured to said support member and arranged to support a lamp bulb; a terminal box formed integralwith said socket-housing and extending into'said yopening in said rear wall; electric conductors extending v-from said terminal box through said opening -in said rear wall and into said conduit; a'cover having an apertured front wall, a topwall, a curved wall joining said front wall to said topwall and having spherical triangular end walls formed by the mergingof the top wall, front wall and curved wall of said cover; a resilient bumper extending thecompletefwidth of thevcleaner and having an apertured front Wall, a top'wall, a-curved wall joining said front wall of said bumper to the top wall thereof, and having spherical'ftriangular end walls that are formed by the -mergingof the top wall, front Wall and curved wall of said bumper; means for securing'said bumper tosaid cover; screws extending from below said shelf wall and engaging said cover, thereby holding said cover to said shelf; and a lens positioned in the aperture of the front wall Vof said bumper and held in place .by said bumper, said cover and said screws.

WILFRED OTTO LANGILLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Snyder Aug. 8, 

